Can cold blooded Belotti carry hot streak forward for the Azzurri?

If Abel Hernandez hadn’t been so reluctant to give up his Premier League contract a year ago, Torino would perhaps never have signed Andrea Belotti. In the end, he fit seamlessly with the club’s strategy of investing in the best Italian talent and followed a number of his teammates from the Under-21s in joining the Granata.

The €8m they paid for Belotti now looks like a steal although Torino have had to be patient. It took him more than eight hours to get off the mark for the club. “It was hard work,” he confessed to Il Corriere della Sera. Of course it’s never ideal moving to a new club after taking part in a major tournament. Belotti’s involvement in the Under-21 European Championship meant he did not get a full pre-season. He found himself behind on his fitness work and didn’t have time to strike up an understanding with his new teammates.

Giampiero Ventura never gave up on him, however, and soon found himself joining in with Belotti’s trademark ‘rooster’ celebration. By the turn of the year everything clicked. “I had a ‘boom’ at the start of 2016,” he explained, “and I started to score with consistency.” Belotti ended the season as the highest scoring Italian of the calendar year. From mid-January onwards he found the back of the net 11 times in 20 games.

Quite understandably the noise for him to be called up to the Italy squad before the Euros in France grew louder and louder. But, for all his talk of meritocracy, Antonio Conte didn’t listen. His mind was already made up and although Belotti [and Leonardo Pavoletti] were in better form than Éder and Graziano Pellè, he did not want to break up a partnership that had served him so well in qualifying. While Belotti would no doubt have liked to have been with the Nazionale in Montpellier, a summer off was perhaps in his interest. Able to rest up and complete a full pre-season under new manager Sinisa Mihajlovic, to say he has picked up where he left off would actually be an understatement.

Belotti has struck five times in three starts. Had he put away penalties against Milan and Bologna, the 22-year-old would be the league’s Capocannoniere despite playing significantly fewer minutes than his rivals for the crown. Belotti had to sit out with a muscle injury after the international break and boy did Torino miss him. Mihajlovic’s side scored just once without il Gallo in the starting line-up and took only two points from nine. With Belotti in the team from kick-off they have averaged 3.3 goals a game.

He is averaging one every 59 minutes, which puts Gonzalo Higuain [76], Arkadiusz Milik [83], Mauro Icardi [90] and Carlos Bacca [92] well and truly in the shade. Starting for the first time since his return from the casualty ward last weekend, Belotti took just eight minutes to get Torino in front against Roma and helped double their lead by setting up Iago Falque. He is creating 2 chances per game, which is more than double the average for players in his position [0.93].

Mihajlovic has always succeeded in extracting the maximum from centre-forwards. You think of Maxi Lopez at Catania, Éder and Manolo Gabbiadini at Samp and Bacca at Milan. Belotti is the latest benefactor. A change to 4-3-3 has helped. Belotti is now closer to goal than he was in Ventura’s 3-5-2 and the team is now playing exclusively to make him score. They aren’t looking for a strike partner. He is averaging 5.2 shots per 90. That’s up there with the very best around Europe. For instance, Robert Lewandowski averages 5.4 in the Bundesliga while Zlatan Ibrahimovic is running at 5.3 in the Premier League.

Ten of Belotti’s 17 shots this season have been on target. “[I’ve improved] in the small details,” he revealed. “In the way I play with my teammates, in how I look for them, and how I attack the goal.” There is a bloody-minded determination about Belotti’s style that contrasts starkly with Edin Dzeko, his opponent a week ago.

The accusation levied at Dzeko is that he is too nice. There is consensus that he needs to develop a nasty, ruthless side and get under defenders’ skin. At times, he seems almost apologetic about scoring. Were he more ‘bad ass’, he would be scoring 30 plus every season. It’s enough to look at the numbers. As Alfredo Giacobbe has pointed out, Dzeko is averaging a colossal 7 shots per 90.

Belotti, on the other hand, doesn’t shy away from his reputation as a cold hearted killer. He encourages it. To him the goalkeeper is “an enemy.” He doesn’t care how he scores. “The joy is the same whether it’s a bicycle kick or comes off your backside. You must never stop, not even in training. You have got to create a relationship between yourself and the goal and get goals into your blood. It creates an energy inside of you that you would like to release all the time, only you can’t. It’s a magnificent feeling, particularly for the reassurance it gives you. For a striker, it’s the meaning of life.”

Belotti will be reunited with Ventura when the Italy squad is announced for a pivotal qualifier against Spain at the J Stadium next week. Ventura gave Belotti his first call up during the last international break and the expectation is he will lead the line as the Azzurri stake their claim to be at the World Cup in Russia in two year’s time. Many would like to see him partnered with Domenico Berardi. Surely that is the future of Italy’s front-line, although Mario Balotelli’s resurgence is giving Ventura something to think about as well.

If Ventura doesn’t adapt his ideas to include Berardi - it’s his opinion that the Sassuolo striker can’t play in a 3-5-2 - criticism will follow, particularly now Belotti is also thriving in a 4-3-3 at club level. “I still haven’t really achieved anything big,” Belotti humbly admits. “But I am working hard towards realising my own objectives as a player and those of the team. I’m not short of hunger or willpower. I think a player should never set himself limits. You have always got to be raising the bar. If you work hard you can achieve anything.” Can he sustain this level and even follow in Ciro Immobile's footsteps to win the Capocannoniere? That is the question. Torino fans certainly hope so. In Turin they have got used to their rooster crowing a 3 o'clock on a Sunday rather than at the crack of dawn.

Is Belotti the man to lead Italy's front line in the years to come? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below